The Crimson Ascension
by bringmeanorphan
Summary: Read about a new cast of characters, centering around the Cross Academy and within the Vampire Knight world. Each chapter is told from a different character's point of view to weave the story together with different vantage points! New characters, same blood and drama that we all know, love, and come to expect from VK. Written by two authors, happy reading!
1. Chapter 1 : Kale

I hate the gate. All the pathetic groupies, begging and flirting and throwing themselves at the Night Class. They don't get it. Fools. Sheep rushing to slaughter. They're loud, they're irritating, and at this rate I could almost see the world being better off without them.

"Come on," she shouted. I can hear that, loud and clear, over the crowd, "Back. Go."

And though I hate them with a passion, I know the world would be much worse if she's lost under the stampede. I moved toward the gate unwillingly, body tense in preparation of seeing the Night Class. I can't understand it. They're just vampires.

From the back of the crowd, I see her. She looks small there, against them. Arms spread out like wings, feet planted firmly against the earth, barring the masses as best as she possibly could. Her weapon, as usual, is stowed away. At any moment I feel like the crowd could overtake, an ocean wave crashing down around her… but she holds them back. Somehow, she holds them back.

Her eyes opened and found me through the crowd, as if she knew I was looking. They met briefly before the realization seemed to wash over her that I was actually here, and the shout of my name followed, "Kale!"

"Yeah?" I returned, raising my eyebrows slightly.

"What do you mean 'yeah?'? I need your help!"

As if to punctuate, her feet slid on the earth from the push of the fangirls. I started through the crowd, pushing and pulling them aside as I made my way to the front to stand beside her. People didn't fight me as much, but it wasn't our size difference that changed it. She could be scary and seem bigger, if she wanted to. It was the fact that I generally wanted to. People strayed away from me like a rabid dog on a fraying leash. I was way more likely to bite and they all knew it.

I stayed facing them, pushing people back and using them as leverage against the rest of the crowd. The guys were especially tiresome and I didn't spare them with gentleness. Shana followed my lead and turned to face them too, pushing as she shouted, "G-Go back to your dorms; it's not happening today!"

It was a pointless demand. They weren't going anywhere until they got their eyes on the Night Class. This happened almost every night; you'd think she'd learn. I just wished they'd hurry up already so I could go back to the stables.

Finally, mercifully, the gates began to open. I kept my back to them as they started their leisurely stroll through the masses. People pushed back against me, stronger, shouting louder in a desperate attempt at attention they should never have wanted.

"Hello, ladies," came a voice from the vampires. Michael. Always Michael. The surge of screaming girls grew worse and I felt my tensions rising higher. His constant flirting certainly didn't help. He was one of my least favorite, and easily most problematic.

"Sorry, sweetheart," he spoke up to Shana as she slid again, closer toward him and the Night Class, "Keep up the good work."

Anger bubbled up in my chest as I shoved a guy into stumbling back through the crowd, "I said, knock it off!"

Beside me, Shana made a small sound of protest, but didn't voice it. He'd be fine. He'll be fine. Falling on his ass is the least of his problems if he's so willing to blindly run head first at his number one predator. Besides, I have zero doubt that she's wanted to do the same. Her empathy just won't let her.

"Hello, Shana… Glad to see you're well today."

And there he was at last. At the back of the line, following up his underlings. Prince-fucking-Charming himself… Levi Cassel. I didn't turn to look at him. I could see the whole scene in my head, as it had been every night since this whole thing started.

Levi, with the smile of a murderer under cunning eyes. Nodding to her, targeting her.

Shana, fumbling to handle his flirtation while resisting the urge to faun like the hordes she held back.

"Thank you," she returned, as predicted, "I-I mean, you too."

"You're welcome," he said, and finally followed the Class into the building. The doors closed, the masses waned, and the task was done. My eyes closed briefly before opening to cut daggers through the disappointed groupies as they started home, plotting how they'd best us tomorrow night as they couldn't tonight.

I could almost hear the tension leaving her. Shoulders going down, shaking out her arms, rubbing her wrists. Easing. I could almost feel it leaving her and sliding into me. Everything else began to fade. All the perfumes and colognes, the stench of mixed bloods, the shouts and pleas and everything in between, all gone, until I was left with only one.

One beating heart. One sweetly Earthy smell, like crushed maple leaves on a fall day. One lingering desire, taunting me. Always taunting me.

I had to leave.

No more than two steps away, her voice sought me out and added itself to the list of things I couldn't handle, "Where were you?"

"Patrolling," I lied without breaking stride.

Her footfalls fell into place behind me, following me. I resisted the urge to pick up the pace and run, leave her and her intoxicating temptation behind. I looked up toward the buildings, trying to place my focus there. They rose high on either side, humans to the left, Night Class to the right, the trees of surrounding wood dead ahead. I tried to catch their scent instead.

"So close to the gates opening? Nn," she pressed her tongue in disagreement before continuing, "Well, try not to do it again…?"

Nothing was working. Her pulse almost seemed louder to me, her scent wrapping around me like cartoon smoke. I held my breath to ward it off, "I don't see why you bother. They won't ever listen to you."

"Because ironically they'd be eaten alive if we weren't there to at least try to hold people back," she laughed. Casual. It was easy to see how she was raised by Prosper. Her already gentle nature seemed accentuated by his drowning positivity.

"Maybe they deserve it," I retorted. My jaw was locked so tight it threatened to pop, "Shedding a little blood would be the least they could do."

I didn't look back at her, but I could hear her arms cross as she readied for our usual debate, "That's no way to think…"

"Why are you following me?"

"Patrolling," she responded, a smile in her tone.

The lack of air was starting to get to me. I needed to breathe in, needed to smell her- no. No. Why wouldn't she just leave me alone? Why couldn't she understand that she shouldn't be around me?! The tension grew worse as her scent filled my lungs.

"Shouldn't you be patrolling on the other side?"

"Shouldn't you have been at the gates earlier instead of leaving me to the masses?" She teased and, with that, moved herself in front of me. She walked backwards, hands clasped behind her back. Vulnerable. Engaging.

I stopped in my tracks, looking down at her. She had to stop. She had to stop. And I had to shake this off. My breathing threatened to deepen, but I kept it steady as I spoke, "It's pointless. I shouldn't even be there. You know I shouldn't and so does he. He just puts me there because he doesn't want to tell anyone else that he's housing monsters behind that gate."

Someone has to keep my brother's secrets. If he wasn't fighting so hard to keep mine, I may not be as willing to do the same. One of the curses of having a brother for a headmaster is simply that he requests bigger favors, but our curse is his relief. Who better to keep his secrets than his brother and surrogate daughter? No one else needed to know.

"They're more contained. They're not as bad…" She said, looking up at me with those sad soulful eyes. She had so much hope for this. So desperate for integration, for the vampires, for Levi. She smiled again, "Besides, this could be the start of something really good. In a few decades it could be more of a myth that we were unable to coexist."

I narrowed my eyes at her and, moreover, at the mental picture of demons walking around with their victims without thought, "You know that'll never happen."

"They're not attacking anyone right now," she tried again, "A century ago _that_ would have been unbelievable."

"When was the last time you left the gates, Shana?" I snapped. The tension grew stronger, threatening me. It was like a warmth in my veins, an anger I couldn't control, the beast. It was the monster alive in my blood. "Their attacks aren't that uncommon! Just because a few pretty boy vampires stay in the school and pretend to be your friends, doesn't mean the rest of them give two shits about coexisting! Why do you think we still have vampire hunters? It's not for fun and leisure!"

I took a step toward her and she took a small step back as I continued, "It's because if there are still monsters out there, they need to be stripped from the earth! Let their blood be spilled for once!"

Her wide eyes stayed with mine as she spoke back, "Nothing will ever change if no one even tries… You wouldn't kill all of the carnivores on the planet just to save omnivores would you?"

"If a carnivore was devouring needlessly, then yes, I would kill it in a heartbeat. If you keep trying to mingle, that's what's going to happen. It'll be slaughter and bloodshed and-" The beast inside of me growled stronger, my own heart thumping angrily in my ears. I locked my jaw against it and nearly spoke through them, "Why do you always side with the monsters?!"

"I-I'm not siding with anyone…!" She said passionately. Ever defending her cause, trying to save the world from its impending doom. "I'd prefer if no race was wiped off the face of the earth. That's the whole point of trying to get the younger generation used to living with humans and using tablets."

My mind shifted to the tin in my pocket, weighing heavy against my chest. Pointless, empty pills. Useless. They couldn't stop my transformation, couldn't stop the need, couldn't stop the longing that continued to grow stronger ever day… a longing to know what her blood tasted like, how the warmth of it would feel on my tongue, sliding down my throat- P-Pills did nothing…

"It won't work," I told her, trying to maintain a calm tone in the raging sea of my thoughts, "They'll never switch entirely. Why would you settle for vegetable paste when they want steak? You're such an idiot, Shana…"

I knew it all too well. I missed the blood I'd never had. I craved it. I twitched and moaned with the cold sweats of withdraw from something I'd never even tasted. I could practically see her pulse thumping in her neck as it called to me…

No. They'd never fully give that up. In all my hatred, I could barely keep the cage door locked. They didn't even see the beast within.

"Leave me alone," I continued as I finally managed to walk past her.

This time she didn't follow. It was a mercy I could never explain.

"Hey!" She called out as I retreated, "You know, plenty of _humans_ are vegetarians and vegans."

I didn't bother to say anything to that. It was beside the point anyways, on a wide scale. We'd had this argument so many times before, she knew my response without me needing to say it. The pill container swung against my chest as I walked, striking hard and heavy against my heart. I wanted to pull it out, wanted to crush it, destroy it, and throw it far from my sight.

But I didn't want her to know. She couldn't know. I spoke to her from experience, a familiarity to the pull she was so convinced they could contain… and as she hoped for victory, all I could see was her blood on my hands.


	2. Chapter 2: Shana

The only thing I didn't like about patrol was that it made squeezing in schoolwork nearly impossible. I guess at the end of the day that side of my life doesn't matter as much as this side. What I was trying to help accomplish was much more important than the quadratic equation. Besides, everyone knew that one already anyways. It was well into the night: The Night Class were safely in their classroom doing whatever it was they did when they went. I doubted that it was strictly for teaching, and even so it wasn't very likely that their subjects intermingled with ours.

My eyelids drooped, the night before I was lucky to get three hours of sleep. I have no idea how Kale manages to have so much energy every night and day. Sometimes I wonder if that's why classes here are later than most other schools, for us at least. Not too late though, Papa wouldn't risk students getting out so close to dusk. Of course, it would make it easier to keep them away from the gates if their butts were planted in desk seats. No, they'd just start leaving class, some of them at least…that was no good.

Well, it couldn't be helped. My arms stretched above my head and my back arched until I felt a satisfying crack of joints. I'd need to move location soon, but from my rooftop perch I could see most of this quarter of the grounds. Everything was safe, safe and quiet. Hopefully tonight would be uneventful. I pushed up from my sit and as if on cue my ears picked up a sound. Freezing, I looked in that direction, eyes narrowing and trying to see through the darkness and trees.

There! Just there, I saw movement. A flash of white moved, another, and I recognized the uniforms of The Night Class immediately and arched an eyebrow: someone was out of class. Two someones. My stomach dropped when it was followed by the dark cloth of my own class' uniform. Oh no…Day Class with Night Class, at night.

And then I heard his voice and my shoulders sagged in exhaustion. Michael Cooper. Mike. By far he was the hardest one to deal with here, but part of me took pity on him. He was breaking a rule yes, but going your whole life on blood and then switching to tablets wasn't easy. Still, rules were there for a reason and he was breaking them, along with some other Night Class student that I couldn't see just yet.

Moving quickly, I ran along the rail gutter of the rooftop, trying not to think about the four story drop. Tree branches brushed up against the side of the building and after making sure my blade was safely secured, I quickly leapt down, trying to keep my heart from spiking too much due to the adrenaline. I crouched on the branch, gripping it with both hands and swinging down to a lower hanging one, and then did the same down to the ground right at the edge of their impromptu meeting. Or, well, I'd hoped this hadn't been planned.

I rose up from my crouched landing, shaking out my hands before fluidly pulling out Solas from its place. The blade shone dangerously in the moonlight, reminding me and them what it was capable of doing. If I had to use it. Right now it was merely unsheathed and I'd like to have kept it that way. It seemed like I'd gotten here just in time too: Mike already had the poor Day Class girl putty in his hands, and my jaw locked when I realized her head was already inclined, giving him full access to her neck. No holes yet though.

The other Night Class student hadn't done something quite as far yet, but I recognized Dominic West immediately. He was a lot like Mike only worse: he was completely unpredictable and calm. My eyes narrowed on both of them, "There's no feeding on school grounds."

Dominic moved, a soft smile on his lips that I knew well enough by now not to trust, and he stopped in front of me but I saw that flicker of his eyes down to Solas. He knew what it was and kept a safe distance away from any arc I could make with it. His voice matched his smile, but I didn't trust it any further, "Hey hey, clam down, nothing's even happened…" Yet. A word that was hanging in both of our heads. I gripped Solas tighter. Not yet.

"Hey, Shana…" I tore my eyes away from Dominic and looked at Mike, his fingers moving down the girl's neck and I felt the sudden urge to rush him, but stayed my ground. They wanted me to react, I wouldn't give them that yet. Where was Kale?! He usually sensed these things out faster than anyone and was more than happy to knock some sense into a vampire. Literally. "Patrolling as usual?"

They wanted to distract me, I wouldn't let them and narrowed my eyes back at him, trying not to put too much stock into his smirk. Breathing came easier when he moved away from the girl though, and the most she could do was grip his jacket but still he continued to walk towards me. She stayed in transfixed quiet. How far had her mind been taken, did she even know where she was…? Kale would have used his weapon by now, but so far I'd been able to keep a clean track record with mine, and I was hoping beyond hope that this could be settled with diplomacy. But…now they were both focusing and facing me, and I don't think even Papa would have blamed me for raising my blade.

Slowly but smoothly I moved my other hand to join at the hilt, holding it in both now and sliding my toes into position. I knew how to use this, very effectively…I just didn't want to. I looked passed Dominic to the approaching Mike, finally answering him, "It's a good thing too, she's going to need to be erased." The poor girl, but no one could know of their existence and that meant a trip to the uh…head doctor. She'd be fine, but my heart still went out to her.

Neither of them cared or thought about that though. Dominic smirked more and my attention returned to him, "Aren't there supposed to be two of you?"

Yes. They were side by side now, two against one. Already I made out the right slashes I'd need to make to immobilize them, even kill them, and the anti vampiric magick that pulsed through Solas would handle anything in between. My eyes flickered to Mike as he picked up after him, "There are, aren't there." His eyes turned to me, "Did he abandon you again…? How cruel. Especially when you're hurt…"

My eyebrows furrowed, I wasn't hurt. Was that a threat? I took it that way and he walked closer. Solas' hilt was gripped tighter and my jaw locked in determination. Please don't make me use it…

"I'm fine." But seriously, where was Kale?! "Now, you both need to go back to your class." They were bigger, stronger, faster, an apex predator, but my authoritative tone didn't waver nor did my stance.

Mike continued coming towards me, but Dominic tilted his head as if inspecting some newfound animal as he slowly walked in a circle around me. Cat and mouse, they were playing with their food and I didn't like being looked at like a cheeseburger. My toes curled in, not letting that tension spread. Faster than any human could have managed, Mike reached out and gripped one of my wrists fast enough to pull that hand free of Solas' hilt. His tone was so calm you'd think this wasn't completely out of line at all, "Let me see. You might need mending…"

"What are you-" But I didn't get to finish, my eyes caught sight of what he was talking about. All down my palm and now running down the heel of that hand: blood. Sticky, warm, fresh blood. My blood. Now that I wasn't distracted by adrenaline I felt the scratches in my palms from having gripped the branches. Solas' hilt was slick in my untaken hand. Shit. My heart spiked and I quickly swung, one knee bending to bring the blade right up against Mike's neck.

The charged steel only got to kiss his skin before Dominic moved, gripping my wrist and pulling my arm down. All tension that might have otherwise been in his tone from being so close to something so deadly to him was gone, "Do you ever even use this…? I've never seen you do it."

Well you would have if you hadn't grabbed me! My heart was spiked, the pulse not going down, and though I knew they weren't stupid enough to kill me I couldn't help but think about who else might have smelled fresh blood. The last thing we needed was a frenzy.

Mike slowly rose my hand up and I turned my eyes back to him, trying to pull my hand back, but they both had a wrist and it left me terribly off balance. Next time I'd slash first and ask questions later. No I wouldn't…His tongue moved out and slowly ran up my palm, collected the seeping crimson that had pooled there. Oh no. No. No no no. Bad, very bad.

And then I heard it: the metallic sound of a gun cocking followed by a voice too calm for how very angry I knew he'd be, "Let her go." That was worse. As previously stated, Kale didn't hesitate to use his weapon when he needed to and his gun was instant death whereas my blade was prolonged. But he had Vampire Hunter's blood as well as their reflexes: he'd kill them and think nothing of it. I couldn't let that happen, not for something this small, and tried to pull my hand back again.

Mike's fingers curled around my wrist but didn't force my hand to stay. Now I just had to worry about Dominic, but he didn't seem threatened in the least. Sometimes I worried about him. His thumb casually brushed along my skin and the hilt, collecting my blood on his thumb as his eyes moved lazily to Kale's, "Well that took you long enough."

"It'd take a lot less time to pull the trigger." Kale answered.

Mike slowly rose his hands up, his eyes starting to burn with anger, "Come on, now. You wouldn't break the treaty, would-ah!"

The butt of Kale's gun quickly hit the back of his head before he returned to aiming it at him, his tone unchanged, "Shut up."

I quickly closed my hand to keep anymore blood from spilling, unable to hold back the tremor in my voice for the fear that Kale was only seconds away from taking this further with his gun, "K-Kale stop, he let go." Unlike Dominic, who really needed to.

If anything he gripped my wrist more and now smoothly and expertly moved the blade for me, making arches and gliding slices through the air, eyes watching the glinting metal. So did mine. "Yes, but in that time how fast do you think I could have this move?" Right now it was slow, drawn out, testing the blade through my grip. I seriously…seriously worried about Dominic sometimes. He wasn't afraid of dying, he just wanted to see how interesting it could get before he breathed his last breath.

Both Kale and Mike knew that, "His life for her wrist…" If look and tone of voice could kill then Kale would have slain Dominic right then and there.

And they might have continued with this back and forth if not for one new voice. I can say without a doubt in my mind that all present company bonded in this one instance: hearts spiking, barriers forgotten, our differences forgotten, all from the drop of seven words from a very particular set of lips,

"His life for much more than that." Levi Cassel. I knew his voice better than anyone else's. And as I slowly moved my eyes to see him in the entry way to the courtyard, one thing was for sure: I should have used Solas. Because whatever he had in store for them now? That would be much worse. He was calm, very kind, but of a higher standing than the rest of them: a pureblood. Apex predator to the apex predators.

And I wasn't afraid.


End file.
